Читать книгу Dissertation on the Gipseys онлайн

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The wandering Gipsey, in Hungary and Transylvania, endeavours to procure a horse; in Turkey, an ass serves to carry his wife, a couple of children, with his tent. When he arrives at a place he likes, near a village or city, he unpacks, pitches his tent, ties his animal to a stake to graze, and remains some weeks there: or if he do not find his station convenient, he breaks up in a day or two, loads his beast, and looks out for a more agreeable situation, near some other town. Indeed, it is not always in his power to determine how long he will remain in the same place; for the boors are apt to trouble him, on account of fowls and geese he has made free with: it sometimes happens, when he is very much at his ease, they sally out with bludgeons or hedge-stakes, making use of such forcible arguments, that he does not hesitate a moment to set up his staff a little farther off: though, in general, the Gipseys are cunning enough, when they have purloined any thing, or done mischief, to make off in time before the villagers begin to suspect them.